One of the challenges we face in our industry is how to convey the value of our products and services without overloading our prospects with the technical complexity of our offerings. Those of you who have taken my workshops know that it’s best to avoid “talking tech.” If your prospects get the sense that your technology is too difficult to understand, they’re going to abandon the idea of doing business with you. So, how do you keep them engaged and interested without crossing the line into “overwhelming” territory?
In J.B. Wood’s book, Complexity Avalanche: Overcoming the Threat to Technology Adoption, Wood argues that we should focus on selling user success rather than selling the technology itself. Even if you are selling a product (as opposed to a service), you can focus your offering on the service and support that comes with the product. And if you don’t already have the infrastructure in place to provide user success service, it’s never too late to incorporate it into your offerings. After all, this added value could more than pay for itself with the new business it would generate.
If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, I highly recommend picking up a copy of the book.
Here’s a summary from Amazon Books:
“Most customers struggle to keep up, and usually settle for far less value than they could (and should) get from their purchases. A new business model for the tech industry is needed—one that requires radically different thinking about the future of services, sales, R&D priorities, and how companies create shareholder value. This new way of doing business views the use of the product as the beginning of a journey with a customer, not the end. The growing consumption gap caused by the avalanche of complexity that these companies have unleashed on their customers is undermining feature-based differentiation as a competitive advantage. Results-based differentiation—actually measured by customers—may be the next Big Thing in tech. Complexity Avalanche offers technology companies a roadmap for moving to this next level of services. This is not a book strictly for service executives, but for every executive whose company builds, sells, or supports technology.”
